Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 19 February and 5 March 2003. No candidate received a majority in the first round of the election with the incumbentPresidentRobert Kocharyan winning slightly under 50% of the vote. Therefore, a second round was held and Kocharyan defeated Stepan Demirchyan with official results showed him winning just over 67% of the vote. However, both the opposition and international observers said that the election had seen significant amounts of electoral fraud and the opposition did not recognise the results of the election.
On the 7 August 2002 the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia announced that the presidential election would be held on the 19 February 2003,[2] with nominations required by 6 December 2002.[3] Candidates had to supply 40,000 signatures of support in order to be able to stand in the election.[4]
President Kocharyan had already announced that he would be running for re-election and the opposition parties attempted to agree on a united candidate to oppose him but were unsuccessful.[3] Former President Levon Ter-Petrossian also contemplated running in the election but ultimately decided not to stand.[1]
First roundedit
15 people announced that they would stand in election, but in the end 9 candidates stood in the first round of the presidential election.[5] Reporting in the media was seen as being one-sided, with a media monitoring organisation saying that President Kocharyan received about five times as much coverage during the campaign as all the other eight candidates combined.[6] Kocharyan campaigned on the record of economic growth during his presidency and got support from several political parties, while his campaign was run by the defence minister Serzh Sargsyan.[7] Kocharyan's leading opponent was Stepan Demirchyan, the leader of the People's Party of Armenia and the son of Karen Demirchyan, a former Soviet leader of Armenia and speaker of the Armenian parliament who had been assassinated in 1999.[6][7] Demirchyan ran in the election as an anti-corruption candidate.[8] The other leading candidate was Artashes Geghamyan a former mayor of Yerevan, from the National Unity party.[7]
Opinion polls in the run up to the election showed President Kocharyan as likely to win the 50% required in order to avoid a second round.[9] Early results showed Kocharyan winning over half of the vote,[8] but the final results of the first round showed that he had just failed to meet that target and so was forced into a second round against Stepan Demirchyan.[10][11] This was first time any incumbent president in the Commonwealth of Independent States had failed to win in the first round of an election.[12]
See-through ballot boxes were used to try to minimise any fraud in the election.[9] However, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which had sent 200 election monitors to observe the election, described the lead up to the election as having "fell short of international standards in several key respects".[6][8][11] Opposition observers at polling stations reported that ballot stuffing in favour of President Kocharyan had taken place and one member of the OSCE observers was reported as having described the election as "a disaster".[6]
Second roundedit
Some opposition supporters called on Demirchyan to boycott the second round but, despite taking part in protests over the conduct of the first round, he did participate in the election.[12] Most of the opposition parties rallied behind Demirchyan in the election and a television debate took place between the two candidates.[13] Kocharyan called on voters in the second round to give him "a convincing victory that no-one can question".[14] The official results saw President Kocharyan winning just over two thirds of vote in the second round and thus he was re-elected.[15]
As in the first round the OSCE reported significant amounts of electoral fraud and numerous supporters of Demirchyan were arrested before the second round took place.[15] Demirchyan described the election as having been rigged and called on his supporters to rally against the results.[16] Tens of thousands of Armenians protested in the days after the election against the results and called on President Kocharyan to step down.[15] However, Kocharyn was sworn in for a second term in early April and the Constitutional Court upheld the election, while recommending that a referendum be held within a year to confirm the election result.[17][18]
Hrant Mikayelian, researcher at the Caucasus Institute, noted that while falsifications during the election were significant and widespread, Kocharyan would have still won it in the second round, but at a far smaller margin.[19]
2003, armenian, presidential, election, presidential, elections, were, held, armenia, february, march, 2003, candidate, received, majority, first, round, election, with, incumbent, president, robert, kocharyan, winning, slightly, under, vote, therefore, second. Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 19 February and 5 March 2003 No candidate received a majority in the first round of the election with the incumbent President Robert Kocharyan winning slightly under 50 of the vote Therefore a second round was held and Kocharyan defeated Stepan Demirchyan with official results showed him winning just over 67 of the vote However both the opposition and international observers said that the election had seen significant amounts of electoral fraud and the opposition did not recognise the results of the election 2003 Armenian presidential election 1998 19 February 2003 first round 5 March 2003 second round 2008 Nominee Robert Kocharyan Stepan DemirchyanParty Independent People s PartyPopular vote 1 044 591 504 011Percentage 67 45 32 55 President before electionRobert Kocharyan Elected President Robert Kocharyan Contents 1 Background 2 First round 3 Second round 4 Results 4 1 Analysis 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksBackground editRobert Kocharyan had been elected president in the 1998 presidential election defeating Karen Demirchyan The election had been held when Levon Ter Petrossian was forced to resign as President after agreeing to a plan to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict which his ministers including Kocharyan had refused to accept 1 On the 7 August 2002 the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia announced that the presidential election would be held on the 19 February 2003 2 with nominations required by 6 December 2002 3 Candidates had to supply 40 000 signatures of support in order to be able to stand in the election 4 President Kocharyan had already announced that he would be running for re election and the opposition parties attempted to agree on a united candidate to oppose him but were unsuccessful 3 Former President Levon Ter Petrossian also contemplated running in the election but ultimately decided not to stand 1 First round edit15 people announced that they would stand in election but in the end 9 candidates stood in the first round of the presidential election 5 Reporting in the media was seen as being one sided with a media monitoring organisation saying that President Kocharyan received about five times as much coverage during the campaign as all the other eight candidates combined 6 Kocharyan campaigned on the record of economic growth during his presidency and got support from several political parties while his campaign was run by the defence minister Serzh Sargsyan 7 Kocharyan s leading opponent was Stepan Demirchyan the leader of the People s Party of Armenia and the son of Karen Demirchyan a former Soviet leader of Armenia and speaker of the Armenian parliament who had been assassinated in 1999 6 7 Demirchyan ran in the election as an anti corruption candidate 8 The other leading candidate was Artashes Geghamyan a former mayor of Yerevan from the National Unity party 7 Opinion polls in the run up to the election showed President Kocharyan as likely to win the 50 required in order to avoid a second round 9 Early results showed Kocharyan winning over half of the vote 8 but the final results of the first round showed that he had just failed to meet that target and so was forced into a second round against Stepan Demirchyan 10 11 This was first time any incumbent president in the Commonwealth of Independent States had failed to win in the first round of an election 12 See through ballot boxes were used to try to minimise any fraud in the election 9 However the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe OSCE which had sent 200 election monitors to observe the election described the lead up to the election as having fell short of international standards in several key respects 6 8 11 Opposition observers at polling stations reported that ballot stuffing in favour of President Kocharyan had taken place and one member of the OSCE observers was reported as having described the election as a disaster 6 Second round editSome opposition supporters called on Demirchyan to boycott the second round but despite taking part in protests over the conduct of the first round he did participate in the election 12 Most of the opposition parties rallied behind Demirchyan in the election and a television debate took place between the two candidates 13 Kocharyan called on voters in the second round to give him a convincing victory that no one can question 14 The official results saw President Kocharyan winning just over two thirds of vote in the second round and thus he was re elected 15 As in the first round the OSCE reported significant amounts of electoral fraud and numerous supporters of Demirchyan were arrested before the second round took place 15 Demirchyan described the election as having been rigged and called on his supporters to rally against the results 16 Tens of thousands of Armenians protested in the days after the election against the results and called on President Kocharyan to step down 15 However Kocharyn was sworn in for a second term in early April and the Constitutional Court upheld the election while recommending that a referendum be held within a year to confirm the election result 17 18 Results editCandidatePartyFirst roundSecond roundVotes Votes Robert KocharyanIndependent710 67449 831 044 59167 45Stepan DemirchyanPeople s Party399 75728 03504 01132 55Artashes GeghamyanNational Unity250 14517 54Aram KarapetyanIndependent41 7952 93Vazgen ManukyanNational Democratic Union12 9040 90Ruben AvagyanUnified Armenians Party5 7880 41Aram SargsyanDemocratic Party3 0340 21Garnik MargaryanMotherland and Dignity1 2720 09Aram HarutyunyanNational Accord Party8540 06Total1 426 223100 001 548 602100 00Valid votes1 426 22397 451 548 60299 07Invalid blank votes37 2762 5514 4690 93Total votes1 463 499100 001 563 071100 00Registered voters turnout2 315 41063 212 331 50767 04Source IFESAnalysis edit Hrant Mikayelian researcher at the Caucasus Institute noted that while falsifications during the election were significant and widespread Kocharyan would have still won it in the second round but at a far smaller margin 19 See also edit2008 Armenian presidential election protests 2011 Armenian protests 2013 Armenian protestsReferences edit a b Armenia Former President Mulls Political Comeback Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty 2002 08 08 Archived from the original on 2009 02 17 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Armenian election dates set Central Asia Caucasus Institute 2002 08 08 Retrieved 2009 05 23 a b Former Armenian president seeking opposition support for comeback Eurasianet org 2002 11 19 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Caucasus Report November 14 2002 Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty 2002 11 14 Retrieved 2009 05 23 US watches presidential poll in oil rich region The Independent 2003 02 19 p 11 a b c d Europe Democracy it s wonderful Armenia s presidential vote The Economist 2003 02 22 p 44 a b c Armenia s opposition plurality and conflict Eurasianet org 2002 12 30 Archived from the original on September 4 2008 Retrieved 2009 05 23 a b c Armenia poll goes to run off BBC Online 2003 02 20 Retrieved 2009 05 23 a b Incumbent President set for ballot success The Independent 2003 02 20 p 13 Election goes to second round run off The Independent 2003 02 21 p 13 a b Armenian election race hots up BBC Online 2003 02 21 Retrieved 2009 05 23 a b Caucasus Report March 3 2003 Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty 2003 03 03 Archived from the original on 18 May 2009 Retrieved 2009 05 23 The implications of Armenia s post election crisis The New York Times 2003 03 19 Archived from the original on September 4 2008 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Armenia poll race reaches climax BBC Online 2003 03 03 Retrieved 2009 05 23 a b c Stern David 2003 03 07 Anger at flawed poll in Armenia Financial Times p 4 Incumbent wins Armenia vote BBC Online 2003 03 06 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Armenia President Sworn In Amid Protests The New York Times 2003 04 10 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Constitutional court stirs Armenian political controversy Eurasianet org 2003 04 23 Retrieved 2009 05 23 Iz istorii vyborov v Armenii Byli li vybory chestnymi Chast 2 2000 e in Russian 24 December 2018 Archived from the original on 25 December 2018 External links edit in Armenian 2003թ նախագահական ընտրությունները Internews Armenia in Armenian Ապրիլի 12 2004թ A1plus Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2003 Armenian presidential election amp oldid 1176045885, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
